Public Safety

The Aggressive Criminal Enforcement (ACE) Team is a support unit, whose primary functions are traffic enforcement and assisting in the apprehension of drug traffickers in the county. The ACE team conducts driving while impaired and driver’s license checkpoints, as well as street-level investigations on controlled substances.
The ACE team works with the sheriff’s office K-9 Enforcement Team and Drug Enforcement Unit to apprehend narcotics suspects as well as saturating hot spots where criminal activity is reported.

Shallotte police charged the following people and investigated the following incidents last week. All information is taken directly from police reports.

•Police charged Billy Vester Jones Jr., 35, of 269 Union School Road, Shallotte, with violation of a restraining order after receiving a call about a domestic violence incident. Police stopped Jones, who admitted to having been with the victim in violation of a domestic violence restraining order. He was taken to the Brunswick County Detention Center and placed under a $1,500 secured bond.

According to Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer Sgt. April Stanley, two male suspects robbed the sweepstakes café around 9:45 p.m. Monday, Aug. 23.

Stanley said the suspects entered the business and demanded cash. A patron was assaulted during the robbery. The suspects then left the business with an undisclosed amount of cash, and the patron suffered minor injuries.

RALEIGH—A Boiling Spring Lakes man has been sentenced to 35 years in federal prison for child pornography charges.

According to U.S. Attorney’s Office spokesperson Robin Zier, Wilbert Robert Schmidt, 64, of 1000 Beaufort Road, Boiling Spring Lakes, was sentenced to 35 years in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release for two counts of production of child pornography.

U.S. District Judge James Dever sentenced Schmidt to prison Thursday, Aug. 19.

ASH—Two suspects were arrested this week, charged with breaking and entering into an Ash home.

Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer Sgt. April Stanley said a safe with more than $4,000 in cash was stolen from an Ash home on Whiteville Road.

On Wednesday, Aug. 11, the homeowner noticed a forced entry to the backdoor of the home, which was last secured July 26. Stanley said a safe with $4,700 in cash and multiple blank checks were stolen from the home.

UPDATE: According to the Brunswick County Sheriff's Office, Amanda Marie Davis has returned to her home.

Detectives with the Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office are searching for a missing Shallotte woman.

Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Sgt. April Stanley said detectives are searching for Amanda Marie Davis, 28, of Shallotte. Davis was last seen at her Shallotte home around 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 17, Stanley said. She is possibly driving a gold four-door Mercury Marquis.

A Georgia man has been arrested in connection with larceny of a boat trailer at Ocean Isle Beach.

According to the Ocean Isle Beach Police Department, Andrew Skipper Pate, 27, of Kinnesaw, Ga., was charged with larceny of a boat trailer on Monday, Aug. 16. He was arrested with the help of the Columbus County Sheriff’s Department, according to the incident report.

Pate was taken to the Brunswick County Detention Center and held on a $10,000 secured bond. The boat and trailer have been recovered.